Signs of Evolution?

I was thinking about this the other day while watching some 24 hour news pundits going at it:

Do two guys butting heads in a heated argument = two bucks squaring off on a hillside?

Do words & talking points = foreheads & antlers?

Have we really come (not) so far?

I guess it really depends. Sometimes what we call a "struggle of ideas" is just a mask for a power struggle, based in the desire to beat the other guy. Because he's on the other side and we always fight to beat the guy on the other side. So much that's masquerading as debate in this country is mindless brawling. The pundits line up against each other like boxing kangaroos on the Jerry Springer show where the host is the referee, the manager in the corner, and the announcer rolled into one.

So often when we come to the the table of argument we don't have the intention of discovering truth---we want to prove our point. Or someone Else's point that we've made into our own. We've lost the ability to listen. we're ready to pounce. we're waiting to speak, and that's not the same as listening.

Because of the perceived need to keep up the pace, keep it engaging, we've become anti-pause, anti-reflection, anti-thoughtfulness. In order to sell more ad slots, we have to spin reality into something interesting enough to count as Reality. But the result is a sped up, selfish, rapid-fire style of miscommunication that teaches us to cut out the space where we used to actually figure things out and come to conclusions. That space where we say "hmmm, I haven't thought about it that way" or "I'm not sure if I agree with that, let me think about it for a minute." In this fast paced pop-media mindset, thoughtful consideration = indecisive waffling. It's seen as a weakness. In the space between the question and the answer, we're taught to insert our own answers if we don't get one right away. The pause somehow means hesitation, deception or insecurity, rather than a genuine need to find the right words.

We need to fight for that pause, we need to stake it out and start up a marketing campaign to set the record straight. Because without it, we're just bumping antlers.